1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a control apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for three-dimensional control.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, multimedia and entertainment software, such as media players or games, has been largely grafted to mobile apparatus such as mobile phone or PDA, to increase the pleasure of using said mobile apparatus. However, because most of the multimedia and entertainment software is developed for personal computer with all kinds of input apparatus, such as keyboard, mouse, or touch pad, it is not easy to apply said software in mobile apparatus without enough input apparatus.
There are some defects existed in the input apparatus of the prior art, such as keyboard, mouse, touch pad, trackball, or track point, and other input apparatus which have been applied in mobile apparatus such as direction key or point stick. Accordingly, said input apparatus can not provide a more convenient environment for a user to control the mobile apparatus. Furthermore, more and more above-mentioned multimedia and entertainment software need three-dimensional control, and it makes it harder for the input apparatus of the prior art to reach the goal.
For example, trackball applies ball-shaped wheel to control the position of cursor to reach the goal of pointing and interaction. Moreover, a user can control the moving speed of the cursor by controlling the moving speed of the trackball. However, the size of trackball is too large to be applied in mobile apparatus. Additionally, track point applies the point stick to control the position of cursor to reach the goal of pointing and interaction. However, the moving speed of the multi-directional key is fixed, and it can not provide 3D control function by itself.
For another example, touch pad applies a touch panel with sensing apparatus to reach the goal of pointing and interaction. However, the size of touch pad is too large, and it needs other input devices to provide three-dimensional control. Accordingly, touch pad is not suitable for mobile apparatus. Take the multi-directional key which has been applied in mobile apparatus for an example, it can control the directions of an object displayed on the screen of a mobile apparatus through a number of keys. However, the moving speed of the multi-directional key is fixed, and it can not provide 3D control function by itself. Furthermore, because the size of the mobile apparatus is smaller, highly-concentrated keys may make it easy for the user to press the wrong key.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,354 entitled “Three dimensional interactive display” discloses a three-dimensional interactive display and method of forming it. Moreover, the 3D interactive display includes a transparent capaciflector (TC) camera formed on a transparent shield layer on the screen surface to sense the movement of an object, such as a finger, so as to perform the 3D control. However, the cost of a TC camera is too high to be applied on a consuming mobile apparatus. Besides, the camera applied presently in the consuming mobile apparatus can not provide the same functions of a TC camera.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,844,871 entitled “Method and apparatus for computing input using six degrees of freedom” discloses a mouse that uses a camera as its input sensor. A real-time vision algorithm determines the six degree-of-freedom mouse posture, consisting of 2D motion, tilt in the forward/back and left/right axes, rotation of the mouse about its vertical axis, and some limited height sensing. Thus, a familiar 2D device can be extended for three-dimensional manipulation, while remaining suitable for standard 2D Graphical User Interface tasks. However, the size of the apparatus is too large, and the apparatus needs a specific panel. Therefore, the apparatus is not suitable for mobile apparatus.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 6,757,557 entitled “Position location system” discloses methods and apparatus for locating the position, preferably in three dimensions, of a sensor by generating magnetic fields which are detected by the sensor. The magnetic fields are generated from a plurality of locations and, in one embodiment of the invention, enables both the orientation and location of a single coil sensor to be determined. However, the magnetic field generator and detector are not suitable for mobile apparatus.
Accordingly, the control apparatus of the prior arts can not meet the requirement for performing three-dimensional control of an object on a mobile apparatus. Therefore, there is the need to develop a control apparatus to solve the problem.